Pudsey Haul

I'm back from Recon at Pudsey.  It might not be the biggest show, but I've always had a fondness for it, I went to one of the very earliest Recon shows when it was in Headingley, and I've tried to get to them all since.

It seemed a little quieter than usual, maybe that was just because I was earlier than usual.  The organisers pride themselves on still running a Bring And Buy.  This was very busy, though I didn't see anything that quite called to me.

I looked at various manufacturers 15mm figures with a view to using them with my 15mm KoW, but all the new stuff, nice though it is, is noticeably larger than the old Essex stuff I already have.

I had a good chat with the chap behind Too Much Lead about bargains and the unfortunate attitude of some members of the hobby.  He was running a very nice looking Dragon Rampant game.  Having seen him collecting the forces on his blog, it was almost like meeting an old friend.

I particularly liked his giants (details on them here).  They look even better in life.

So what was my haul?  Not much actually.  A resin cross for Blood Eagle and similar

Dark Age games from Ainstey Castings.  Two piles of crates and other items from Skytrex (very nicely detailed, these).  A metal Reaper Miniatures bear (second hand, or should that be paw?) and a pack of dogs and another of wolves from Warbases, great for Frostgrave.

Current totals for December

Bought 8 (Bear, dogs and wolves, Celtic cross and two piles of packages)
Painted 0
Sold/traded 0

November: Went the Month Well?

A quick look back at last month and I seem to have been unusually productive (for me) and also relatively restrained on the acquisitions front (again, for me).

Current totals for November

Bought 11 (the survivor and 1 Dreadball team)
Painted 32 (Frostgrave and Vanguard warbands, including a troll, which must be good for bonus points and 30 15mm halflings)
Sold/traded 92 (5 dwarf berserkers and 3 lesser obsidian golems, 18 Napoleonics, 26 Gothic Horror, approx 40 GW orcs, plus some WH40K scenery)

I do need to alter the totals slightly as the post brought a Dreadball team.  I 'reinvested' some of my eBay sales, in one of the few teams I hadn't got, and it was a very good price (I also have other plans for them, but that might remain secret for now).

The Frostgrave/Blood Eagle warbands have been fun to paint, though towards the end I got weary of deciding what colours to paint the various bits of clothing.  Two warbands down now, so I'm ready for some games.  I've got a couple more made up of various old D&D pre-paints, so plenty to go at.

A bit of scenery building was also fun (and I've just remembered that I built up some MDF ruins for Frostgrave and similar.  I'll do a post dedicated to them as I have added to them somewhat).

The 15mm KoW was a very useful exercise.  It uses old minis that otherwise would be sold on, and allows me to get armies on the table that I wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to try.  I am thinking that I might even look at my 15mm historicals, as I would like to try KoW Historical rules as well.  If only I hadn't sold off my Greek army.

Enough of painting and modelling, that's just one part of the hobby.  What about gaming?
I've had less success here.  My Monday night D&D group plods on, and much of the modelling is for this, such as the ramps and blocks I made for the ziggurat (you can see them here).  I've not managed any other gaming though.  I have stopped the Thursday night Section/Delta Green game for a while, so hopefully that will free up some time for more table-top action.

I should be at Recon tomorrow.  I've a small shopping list, mostly of odd bits of stuff to complete projects.  I'll report back afterwards.

Frostgrave - Ready for the Frozen City

Astute readers will have noticed two of my new Frostgrave minis demonstrating the use of clothes-pegs the other day.  Well that batch is finished now, so here are the rest of two Frostgrave warbands.

Firstly the Sons of Empire wizard and his apprentice.  Both GW plastic figures.  The chap with the rather fine dragon staff came free with an old White Dwarf and I believe was also used in a version of the Talisman board game.  His apprentice was, I think, from Advanced Heroquest.  If I can find one, I'd like to replace the apprentice with the wizard from the original Heroquest.

Three specialist troops for the Sons of Empire; thief, man-at-arms and crossbowman

The wizard and apprentice for the Men of the North.  These are actual Frostgrave minis from North Star.  I thought they fitted nicely the dark age/Viking look of the rest of the band.  I might even manage to use them in a game of Blood Eagle.

Men of the North thief and barbarian

Men of the North infantryman and man-at-arms

The Men of the North were a mix of Wargames Factory Vikings and bits box bits.  The rather sinister head on the thief is from the Frostgrave cultists box.  The Wargames Factory minis have less interesting poses than the Gripping Beast ones I used for the rest of the band, but they do have a useful leather armoured body.  The barbarian is an old GW metal Viking Berserker.  I used to have this mini years ago.  A good friend gave me a replacement, I altered it to have a double axe rather than a sword and shield.  These should all fit nicely into games of Blood Eagle as well as Frostgrave.

Although these took some time to finish, I really enjoyed painting and modelling them.  I didn't go for any form of uniform, but the Sons of Empire all have some yellow as a distinguishing mark.  I would think something like this is pretty important in the ruins of Felstadt.  

I'd like to call this project finished and move on to other things, but already I have had ideas for other soldier types for each warband.

Anyway;  current totals for November

Bought 1 (the survivor)
Painted 11 (Frostgrave warbands)
Sold/traded 8 (5 dwarf berserkers and 3 lesser obsidian golems)

Which puts me nicely ahead.  I've also got a simple modelling project that I'll get photoed and up here in the next few days.

Warbands

It should be no secret to my reader(s) that I like skirmish games.  The small size of the forces is a definite plus; you can get playing that much sooner.  I also think it's easier to tell a story within the game, as the miniatures are more like personalities.
Frostgrave is one such, and a while ago I showed my warband made up of various prepainted minis, mostly from the old WotC D&D line.  This warband was only ever meant to be a 'get-me-by' until I got round to painting one from scratch.  Now I am well on the way to finishing two warbands, on the grounds that its easier to show the game to someone with a warband ready for them to play.
For 'reasons' I am theming each warband; this is what I have so far.

Warband 1 'Sons of Empire'.  These are made up of old GW figures, mostly the rather excellent Empire Militia (formerly the Mordheim humans).  These minis are ideal for Frostgrave, although perhaps they need a scarf or something.  They will also do for Ghost Archipelago, and D&D as well.  this picture shows four of the thugs, before I remembered that thugs are supposed to be unarmoured.  I'm sure if I make it clear what the are, no one will mind.

More of the 'Sons of Empire'.  (l to r) Another thug, a knight, borrowing a torso and shield from the Empire command options on the spearmen/handgunners sprue, and two archers.

Warband 2, 'The Men of the North'.  These are Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors and Archers.  (l to r) two thugs and two archers

More 'Men of the North (l to r) knight and three thugs.  More Gripping Beast.

The Men of the North will, of course, fit into my Blood Eagle games as well, so they are nicely versatile.  No wizards yet, they and their apprentices are still on the painting table, along with reinforcements for both bands.  That's the problem.  Once I start thinking of ways to show the different soldier types, I can't stop.  Already both bands have thieves, men-at-arms and infantrymen on their way to being finished.

These aren't for Frostgrave though.  That said, there's no reason why not.  This is the sample goblin warband for the alpha rules of Kings of War: Vanguard.  I rooted around among my KoW goblins and found what I needed, along with some reinforcements from Dungeon Saga.  Just about all these will find a place in my KoW collection as well as being good for Vanguard, so yet more versatility.

I like the look of the rules so far, and want to try them soon, though I have a DeadZone campaign to finish off first.  I suppose I should get an opposing force as well.  At around a dozen minis that shouldn't be too hard.

Terrain Progress

Yes, I know,  it's been a while. A combination of real life and starting (but failing to complete) many projects has kept me from posting.  But enough excuses.  This blog was supposed to encourage me to finish things, so here goes.

I hope to start a Frostgrave mini campaign soon.  My D&D group have expressed interest, so I've been getting stuff ready, whilst sorting through the myriad boxes of old figures.  This got me to look at older minis with a view to painting up some warbands.  Part of the idea is to have stuff that will do for more than one system, so a Norse themed band was a must to work for Blood Eagle as well.  More on these later, as I am short of a wizard or two.

Terrain is also a big part of both skirmish games and roleplaying.  I have made cardboard ruins (DM Scotty style) before, and even used pink foam with brick carved in.  Then I watched this video from Black Magic Craft.  Soon a couple of rolling pins were winging their way to me, and I am impressed with the results.

This ruined tower or watchpost will make great scenery for Frostgrave, and any other skirmish game I happen to try.  I am still not sure about adding loads of snow to truly 'Frost' it.  That restricts its usefulness.  I'll try to resist adding too much in the way of vegetation though, so it still hints at a cold climate.

In other news, I just got my copy of Ghost Archipelago.  This looks at first scan to be great fun, but I'll concentrate of FG for now.

Also Mantic Games have announced that their Kings of War skirmish game, called Vanguard, will be kickstarted beginning November 1st.  There is more information on their blog (see list below).  One very nice feature is that it is designed to tie in to larger Kings of War battles, so the results of a Vanguard game might affect the resources available for a KoW battle.

I'll get some pictures of the Frostgrave warbands up soon.

Oh, and a 'no-prize' if anyone recognises the inspiration for the watchtower (though I've changed a few details, such as window shape).

Finished Skald

Finally, the skald is finished, along with his boss, the Warchief Hagar.

Hagar is made up from Gripping Beast's Viking Hirdmen sprue.  I am not entirely happy with his shield design, but I can get back to it at a later date, as he was rushed somewhat.

The skald, details of his construction can be found here

From this angle the shield appears too big, but in real life it looks more appropriate.

Next up are a Berserk and a Veteran.  The former is a converted Wargames Foundry metal mini.  So old that I remember it as an old Citadel miniature back when they had a small historical range.

I have also been looking at a completely fantasy Viking band made up of Reaper Bones, horned helmets and all.

In the search for the perfect skirmish system I have recently looked at A Song of Blades and Heroes. I have heard much about this system, and it does have some appealing aspects, but I have yet to actually play, and it may lack some of the detail I expect.  Please comment if you have any experience of the game, either good or bad.

A Teller of Tales, Blood Eagle Skald

Inspired by my first couple of games of Blood Eagle, I have started my own warband.
I am using the Viking Raiders list for now, partly because I used it in the trial games, and partly because it gives me the chance to use one of my favourite saga characters, Egil.

One figure that impressed me in the first game was the skald.  A lore master, teller of tales and user of wyrd powers.  The Second Sight power was particularly useful in the first game, and I wish I had kept it.
The borrowed skald was a robed type with a staff; very Dark Ages wizard looking, but I wanted something that emphasised a youthful wanderer, quite able to take care of himself in the wilds if need be.  He also had to have the equipment listed (leather byrnie, shield and short sword).

Digging around I found the following;

Conquest Games Medieval Archers provided the body and the arms, the head was from the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors set, the scabbarded short sword was from Wargames Factory, though any sword would do, I liked this one as it was noticeably shorter than the ones on the Gripping Beast Vikings sprue.  Mantic Games' elves provided a (slightly anachronistic) harp.

All stuck together with green stuff to aid the position of his left arm and provide a neck; Gripping Beast and Conquest bodies and heads don't play nicely together without assistance.

Once everything is set and dry I'll get round to painting him.  He will get a shield slung across his back once he has been painted.

I am particularly pleased with his pose; not fighting, but proclaiming something.  No doubt he has just played a chord on his harp and is telling the saga of his lord.

Quest for the Perfect Skirmish

I have been searching for a long time for the perfect skirmish system.  By that I mean something that gives a fun, fast game, and ideally something that is adaptable to many different settings and backgrounds.
An experience or advancement mechanism would also be great (I have fond memories of the old GW Battle Systems in Middle Earth, specifically the Battle companies variant).
Recently I tried Savage Worlds' skirmish game called Showdown (available free on their website here).  I tried a game against my good friend 'Merlin' in North Yorkshire on one of our irregular gaming days.  He came up with the scenario and I brought the rules.  His elves were trying (ultimately futilely) to prevent my orcs desecrating a sacred well.

Elves and orcs face off across the forest glade

Elven bowfire initially seems ridiculously effective, wiping out a whole unit of orc archers.

The two forces clash

Now the orcs love of the fight comes to the fore

Eventually the elves are slain or driven off.  the death of their leader is the final blow, and the rest fade away into the woods.

The game was fun, and the scenario was excellent as it forced the elves to move to contact the orcs rather than just stand back and shoot, while the orcs had to stay close to the well rather than chase elves down in the forests.

However, the game took virtually all the allotted playing time, partly due to unfamiliarity with the rules, of course, but also there seemed to be a lot of overly fiddly bits.  I suspect this is due to the system's birth in the Savage Worlds Role Playing Game (an excellent system, by the way).

Somehow, it wasn't quite for us, and every time one of us thought of a way of simplifying the rules, the other decided it wasn't quite right.

Fast forward a few weeks, and we got another gaming day.  This time, at Merlin's suggestion, we tried Blood Eagle from the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare.

This ruleset is an adaptation of In Her Majesty's Name from Osprey.  This is a Victorian era Steampunk game, and one I bought some time ago, but have never got round to really looking at.  IHMN is itself an adaptation of In the Emperor's Name, a skirmish game set in the WH40K universe.

Blood Eagle uses (as far as I can tell) the same rules engine, but is set in the Dark Ages and focuses on small warbands with a basic alignment towards either Christianity or Paganism.

Merlin provided the figures from his collection, and I provided the table (and lunch).  We managed two games, both great fun and full of cinematic moments, such as the lone Saxon in the first game who just would not die, or my skald using his Wyrd powers to shatter a huscarl's shield.
Both games were simple 'slog-it-out' battles of Saxons vs Viking raiders. Honours even at the end of the day.  While we forgot some things (like Run, doh), we learnt more as play progressed.

Vikings advance through the woods towards the waiting Saxons, while the berserk flanks around the mead hall.

The Saxon archer takes aim while his colleagues wish they had known they could Run.  The rather overweight priest was the first to remember this.

More Saxons hiding in the fir trees.

The Saxon view of the invaders.

As the two forces clash, a Saxon Fyrdman is slain at the foot of the (obsidian, definitely not only undercoated) monument to Thor.

The second game was just as much fun, even though I got tabled.  I misplaced my camera for most of the game, hence only the one pic.

In conclusion, Blood Eagle provides us with a fast, fun play experience.  The rules are simple enough to learn, but complex enough to reward tactical thinking.  The force sizes are about what I was looking for, and the upsurge in plastic figures recently is great for this kind of 'wysiwyg' game.  

I will definitely dig out IHMN and some of my old EoD figures.  I am also thinking this might be the ruleset on which to base my ideas for a Boarder Reiver skirmish campaign.